The Bond
by Sweet Sassy Sarah
Summary: Annelise Baker made a promise, to her brother and to herself, that she would join the King's Own when she turned fifteen. Begins in the last year of Squire.


Here you go, my new story. Thanks to KrisEleven for all of your help and hard work making sure this was ready to post.

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_**Enrollment in the King's Own will be opened to all Tortallan persons over the age of fifteen years, regardless of gender, in response to the war in which the kingdom of Tortall finds herself engaged. Proclaimed in the 12**__**th**__** year of the reign of King Jonathan IV and his Queen Thayet the Peerless.**_

_**451 HE**_

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**~459 HE**

Annelise stood at her flower stand, arranging the simple display in a way that looked pretty. She tucked an errant strand of auburn hair behind her ears and stepped behind the stand, waiting for someone to step out of the crowd and stop. She was nestled between a fruit stand and a stand selling buns, all on one side of the main street winding through the central market of Corus. It was mid afternoon, one of the two busiest times of the day at the market. People came in bunches, trying to hurry through their chores before they needed to get back to their homes.

A few people bought flowers from her stand, smiling as they went. Annelise sent them off with a smile of her own and turned back to the street, trying to lure in more customers. A man in the blue tunic of the King's Own strolled up, a smile reaching his blue eyes.

"Good afternoon," Annelise said, unable to help the flush that washed over her cheekbones at the way his eyes traveled from her head to her feet and back again.

"Hello," the man said, and a slow smile spread across his lips. Annelise bit her lip, cursing the color in her cheeks as she looked down. The man's lips twitched but he said nothing, just watched her for a moment. "Beautiful," he said softly, and Annelise's eyes snapped up to meet his. He was still smiling.

"Flirting while you buy flowers for someone else?" Annelise asked, suddenly bold.

The man laughed outright then. "What's your name?" he asked her.

"Annelise," she replied. "Baker."

The man's gaze sharpened, and he searched her face for a second before asking, "Are you related to Des Baker, in the Own?"

Annelise tilted her head. "He's my brother. You know him?"

"We're in the same squad." He glanced down for a second and then back up to Annelise. "We've all got the evening off, so I'm sure you'll see him."

Annelise smiled, genuinely happy at the news. "Thank you, sir."

The man chuckled then, shaking his head, and picked up two flowers, one red, one white. He handed over money to pay for them, and after Annelise had taken it, he tucked the red flower behind her ear. "It matches your blush," he said, and strolled away, one hand in his pocket, the other holding the white flower.

Annelise stared after him until he disappeared into the crowd and reached up to brush the flower behind her ear. She still had a few more hours before she was able to go home, and it was a long few hours. She sold enough flowers that she knew her parents would be pleased, and when the sun was near to setting, she packed up the flowers left over and made sure the purse with her earnings inside was safely tucked into her dress where thieves couldn't get to it.

She walked home through the market square, even though that took a few minutes extra time. She liked to look at the variety of people, and there were many: from the tanned Bazhir of the Southern Desert to the fair-haired men from the north, the tilted eyed people from the Yamani Islands and dark skinned people from Carthak.

She walked past the Temple of the Goddess and smiled at the women standing guard. It wasn't so strange now, the idea that women could fight as well as men. Not since King Jonathan had allowed girls to train as knights and had allowed them into the King's Own.

As she left Temple District, Annelise reminded herself to keep her wits about her. There were more thieves in that area, it being close to where the Court of the Rogue was held. No one approached her, and she hurried through to the buildings outside of the immediate reach of the Rogue.

She entered a two story house and shut the door behind her. "Annelise!" her mother's voice called. "Is that you?"

"Yes, Mama," Annelise replied. "I've good news." She walked into the room where her mother was, and found that her father was there, too; an extremely rare occurrence, since her father hated the miniscule parlor with its bright drapes and fabrics.

Annelise was a mixture of her two parents, Bernard and Maryanne. She had her mother's somewhat delicate features and her father's height, her mother's eyes and her father's hair color.

"What's your news, Annelise?" Bernard asked his daughter.

"Des has the evening off. He's in Corus, at the palace."

"And who did you find this out from?" Bernard asked, brown eyes hard. "The man you were flirting with at the stand?"

Annelise's eyes went wide. "The man I...no, I didn't...I wasn't flirting with anyone! Papa, I wasn't!"

"You were seen flirting with him. He gave you that flower in your hair, if I'm not mistaken." Annelise's hand rose to the flower she'd forgotten to take from behind her ear.

"Did he walk you home?" Maryanne asked.

"No. He bought two flowers and left."

"That's all?"

Annelise nodded fervently. "That's all! I promise, Mama." Embarrassed and flushing again, she pulled her earnings from their hiding place and handed them to her father. "Here, Papa."

Bernard took the purse and poured the money out on the end table in the room, counting. When he was satisfied with the result, he swept the coins into his hand and put it back into the purse.

"You know it's dangerous in the city," Maryanne said softly. "You need to be careful out there."

There was the sound of a door closing, and then a voice called out, "Mama, Papa, Annelise?"

"Des!" Maryanne exclaimed, going toward the door. She returned with Desmond behind her.

Des shook hands with Bernard, who nodded approvingly at his only son. Des was only a year and a half older than Annelise, and he was their parents' favorite. He'd joined the King's Own the day after his fifteenth birthday with their father's approval. He was hardly in Corus, and when he was, Bernard used some of their precious money to take the family out to dine in the city.

Des looked like Annelise, with dark red hair and blue eyes. He was tall, much taller than Bernard, who stood at just under six feet tall. He was a handsome man, all in all, and frequently had several young ladies vying for his affection.

When he saw his sister, Des grinned widely. "Little sister. I heard you met my sergeant today. He thought you were cute."

Annelise glared at him. She'd just gotten her father to forget about it, and it was the first thing out of Des' mouth. Typical. Maryanne looked at Des. "He talked to her about you?"

Des looked confused. "He bought a flower from her stall."

Bernard turned to Annelise. "You were flirting with a sergeant in the King's Own?" He shook his head. "Is he why it took you so long to get home? Did you meet him after you were finished working?"

"No, Papa, I swear," Annelise said. "I swear, I came straight home when I was done."

"He bought a flower from her, Papa, that's it," Des said, still confused.

Bernard looked as though he'd been slapped. "That's why there was so much money in the purse today," he murmured. "He paid you."

Maryanne gasped. "Bernard!"

"Papa!" Des exclaimed.

Annelise's eyes went wide, and then a blank look crossed her features. She inhaled a breath and gave a short nod before leaving the room, walking stiffly. Des looked at their father. "Papa, he didn't do anything of the sort. He bought a flower and came back to the palace to tell me I had the evening off. That was it." He left the room, following after his sister.

He found her in her room upstairs looking out the window. She was holding back her tears. Des hugged her around the shoulders. "Papa had no right to say that to you," he said.

Annelise didn't say anything.

"Your fifteenth birthday was last month, Ann. Why aren't you gone already? What happened to our agreement?"

Annelise laughed humorlessly. "It's been a year since we made that pact, Des."

Des frowned. "When that earthquake hit Bay Cove last year, do you remember what happened?"

Annelise frowned. "The King's Own came and helped rebuild the town."

"Exactly. And do you remember what we said when we moved to Corus?" Annelise didn't look at her brother, but he lifted her chin in his hand. "Do you remember?"

"We said we'd join the Own when we turned fifteen."

Des nodded. "I did my part not a month later."

"With Father's blessing! I don't have that."

Des sighed. "You need to get away from here, Ann. Before it's too late for you and you end up going straight from daughter to wife without doing anything you wanted, everything you promised me you'd do. Everything you promised yourself you'd do."

"It's one thing to know I need to leave. It's another to actually do it."

Des reached into his tunic and pulled out his purse. He handed it over to his sister. "Here."

"Des!" Annelise didn't take the purse.

"Take it. I get a monthly stipend. This is to get you started." He shrugged. "Consider it a loan, if you want. But take it."

Slowly, Annelise's hand came out and she took the purse her brother was offering her. Des smiled at her. "Come back with me to the palace," he said.

"I won't have clothes."

"There's more than enough money in that purse to afford you some uniforms, practice clothes and everyday clothes. As well as anything else you'll need."

"I can't just leave. I have to at least tell Mama and Papa."

"So you'll tell them. I'll go with you, and then we can go." He motioned around them to her room, mostly bare. "Gather the things you want to bring with you. I'll wait downstairs." He left the room, and Annelise started to go around the room, taking the things she wanted.

She looked at the three toys on her windowsill. They'd been broken in the earthquake. One was a figure of the unicorn, painted all white. The horn had broken off and was never found, but it'd been given to Annelise by one of her friends for Midwinter. The one in the middle was a doll with patches on her dress. It was clean, but worn, and was Annelise's oldest toy. She didn't play with it anymore, just kept it on her windowsill so she could see it in the mornings. The last was a carved cat that was laying down, curled up on itself. There were a few nicks in it, and a pointy ear had broken off when the earthquake hit.

She remembered that day, the day of the earthquake at Bay Cove. She was thirteen and Des was fourteen; they were playing in their yard when the earth started shaking. "Des!" Annelise screamed when the earth cracked a few feet away from her.

Des grabbed her by the arm and she hugged him. Annelise closed her eyes tight and waited for the shaking to stop. She could hear people screaming and crying, and there were tears running down her face as well. When it finally stopped, she opened her eyes cautiously. Des gripped her tighter as they turned toward their house to see that the roof had fallen in, and so had the roofs of several houses. Shutters were off their hinges, and some houses were completely leveled. Maryanne and Bernard had come home to find their children in the yard, still holding each other.

It took the King's Own four days to reach them. Annelise remembered them riding up on their big geldings. There were so many of them, dressed in blue tunics. The biggest of them all rode at the head of the group, surveying the damage with dark eyes. She remembered him from when there'd been pirates in Bay Cove. He and the men riding behind him had come with Baron George of Pirate's Swoop to help them get rid of the pirates. Raoul the Giantkiller, he was called, the knight commander of the King's Own. And the girl riding just behind him in a green tunic was his squire, Keladry of Mindelan.

Lord Sir Raoul and Squire Keladry dismounted and handed off their reins before having a quiet conversation with one of the oldest townsmen.

Lord Sir Raoul signaled to his men, and all the men in uniforms dismounted from their horses. Squire Keladry took her horse and Lord Sir Raoul's, and started leading them off.

Men came to help sift through the wreckage, and Maryanne and Bernard decided they'd move to Corus instead of rebuilding in Bay Cove. Maryanne was worried that there would be another, worse, earthquake and didn't want to stay there any longer.

As they were packing up their things, one of the King's Own stepped out of the wreckage of their house with a handful of items. They'd been through most of the house already, but this man was carrying things from Annelise's room.

As he handed them to her, a rueful smile touched his face. "These were the least destroyed," he said. Annelise took her doll, her unicorn and the cat figurine from him.

"Thank you," she whispered through the tears the filled her eyes.

He nodded. "You're welcome."

Annelise shook her head, blinking. She was too old for toys, she thought, and taking them with her to be a soldier seemed wrong, but she took the three toys off her windowsill and put them on her bed, pushed against the wall. She glanced around at the room. It was small, just big enough for a bed and a clothespress, with a single window looking over the small garden.

She wouldn't miss it, but she'd miss her parents, her comfortable lifestyle. She liked selling flowers, but she knew something was missing. Des was right, she'd promised herself she'd join the Own, and she wasn't about to give up the chance now that she had it. She was good with horses, she knew. Not as good as Des was, but good enough, and she learned quickly. She was eager to prove herself, and she wanted adventure. But she was scared. She was scared that she wouldn't be happy, that the men would run her out, that she'd have to leave, that she might not even get in.

Before she could stop herself, she put the toys from her windowsill into the deep pockets of her dress, along with the purse Des had given her. It was the reminder of her childhood that she wanted.

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A/N: All righty, there's chapter 1! I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know what you think in a review or a PM. Any questions or comments, let me know! ~Sarah


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